Fourth celebration a booming good time

Children running, people laughing, the symphony playing and fireworks exploding over the mesa were a beautiful sight to see during the Fourth of July celebration at the Mesquite Recreation Center and Eureka Casino Resort.

The Virgin Valley Tea Party kicked off the day with the reading of the Declaration of Independence at 8 a.m. at City Hall.

The Mesquite Recreation Center gave families something to do and a way to keep cool during the sweltering afternoon by hosting a free swim day in the outdoor pool. Many residents gathered for the pool and games. An egg toss, water balloon toss, a dunk tank, face painting and other activities were available to participants.

The festivities continued at the Eureka with a vendor village starting at 6 p.m. While the evening started off slow it picked up slightly in time for the hotdog-eating contest and became packed by the time the Nevada POPS symphony began playing at 8 p.m.

The hotdog-eating contest was a show of its own with 11 human competitors and one canine helper; the game was anyone’s to win. An outstanding number of young men turned out to support Virgin Valley Bulldogs and even a Beaver Dam resident member came out to support the Diamondback name. Also present was Mandy Meyer from We Care For Animals with her four-legged assistant, Diego. Last, but certainly not least, was defending champ Joe Perez, back to challenge the slew of competitors.

Perez started off quickly but Junior Paongo wasn’t far behind, scarfing down hotdogs and drawing some attention to himself. It wasn’t long before poor Paongo started to fall behind Perez and tried to pass some hotdogs to his friend to even up the score. Alas, Paongo’s attempts fell short and the hotdogs were returned to his own plate. In the end, Perez ate nine hotdogs in three minutes to again become this year’s hotdog eating champ.

He dedicated his win to the Mesquite Veterans and said the only reason everyone was here to celebrate was due to the veterans’ sacrifices and dedication.

Everyone gathered around to listen to the Nevada POPS symphony perform an array of tunes from the last 100 years of American music. Some zombies even showed up to dance to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”

It wasn’t long before the sky was being lit up with brilliant color of the fireworks. The massive fireball that shot into the sky shocking the ground was intended, Deputy Fire Chief Rick Resnick said.

Overall, the holiday was a success. Special thanks to the Eureka Casino Resort for the Rockets Over the Red Mesa show and the Nevada POPS symphony for the fabulous entertainment.